Encounter In A Training Ship
by CondorRadcliff
Summary: Somewhere deep below the Earth, Pearl and Peridot and Lapis Lazuli must rescue themselves and each other from the clutches of an overzealous training ship. Will they survive? Will they become closer? Will they... FUSE? Join them for an adventure of a lifetime in a perilous situation! (And feedback is always welcome.)
1. Prologue

In an indistinct place beyond where time or the senses could reach, Steven found himself staring up at three large Gems he didn't recognize.

...Fusions. That's what they were, he suddenly knew.

The first was cracking ...her? his? their? knuckles, as they radiated electric charisma through a fear-eating grin. Their abnormally large green shades compounded with the enormous 'S' on their red chest armor to give the impression that they formed knowing they were the hero of their own story - and everyone else's as well.

The second stood behind them, maybe twice as tall as Garnet and glowing as green as a garden in spring, contrasting that with a serious demeanor. No, that wasn't right - they were floating, their limbs flexed out a little like they were underwater. They were looking for something, their eyes darting around as they hunted for a threat to protect against.

The third didn't need to stand behind the others at all, because the others barely covered her shins. Tall and red and detached from concern, she seemed to be aware she wasn't alone; she carried herself as though knowing she could make herself the last survivor. Under those blue shades, it was impossible to tell what she was thinking or feeling.

Then, Steven felt another presence. He turned around, and saw that Peridot, Lapis Lazuli, and Pearl were there. For how long, he couldn't tell, and when he tried to speak to them his mouth refused to move. His limbs were suddenly as heavy as anchors, but then moved on their own as he reached out to them.

His friends faded away and he was now in a stranger place, dark and lit at the same time, silent and yet unquiet. So he turned around, to see if the three Giant Gems could help.

Instead, they were fighting... something. Those foes he could see had shape and mass and overwhelming numbers, but when he tried to identify them even the most obvious details wouldn't come to mind. Some had legs, some didn't; some were big, some weren't; some could fight, some were scrap.

The foes weren't pushovers. The fusions were struggling but confident in their victory, using weapons and attacks Steven had never seen a Gem use before (but were nonetheless familiar). He couldn't help them - something was preventing him - and knew it wasn't necessary anyway.

Every few moments in their great battle, he thought he could tell that Pearl and Peridot and Lapis were there too, fighting alongside. Nothing he could see gave him that impression; he just knew. But as the Gems and fusions and their foes traded blows, their battle continued as a series of snapshots - pose-to-pose, key frame to key frame without inbetween animation.

..."-_ven?_"

He heard a voice.

..."-_teven?_"

He knew that voice. And looking up, he saw Amethyst's head and hair speaking to him, enormous and _floofy_, over a battlefield which no longer existed.

Oh. Right.

Steven woke up.

"Heyyyyy Steven! You wanted a wake-up call?" Amethyst said. Now that he was sort of not asleep, he could see she was standing above him on his bed, getting ready to shake him awake.

"Good morning?" He remembered. "Oh! Oh, right. Today's my first day of work!"

He rolled out of bed and in his excitement immediately forgot the dream he'd just had. It was a big day for him - a workday! A chance to pay off yet another debt to Mr. Smiley...

Oh. Right.

It was a _workday_...

He forgot some of his excitement.

(And in the process, didn't wonder about how much of the future he'd just foreseen.)


	2. 01 - Uninvited Guest

The little green drone arrived unannounced and barged into the beach house without anyone's permission - and thus had much in common with its creator, Pearl noted to herself. And knowing Peridot, it was there to show off her latest advancement in understanding Human culture or technology. But before Pearl could reach the broom, it found Steven and began playing audio.

"Steven! Hello! Do you have a minute?" Peridot said through it, at far greater volume than was actually necessary.

After an earlier incident involving the usual shenanigans, Steven was in the odd position of having to take responsibility and work at a job... by putting on 'future boy' make-up and a costume. "Um, maybe? I have something I need to go do in a little bit - what's up?"

"Me and Lapis found a new old Gem wreck to source parts from-"

"-we're desecrating a grave!-" Lapis cut in.

"-what? No, no, Steven. If anything, it's more like a Human mausoleum-"

"-we're grave robbing! Wanna come grave-rob with us, Steven?"

"_Laaaaaaaapiiiis!_ If you say it like that he won't want to come!"

"I thought we were stealing! I learned how to make a drill out of water just so we could go stealing! Aren't we going stealing?"

Pearl looked on in growing horror as Steven appeared more and more delighted by the possibility of ...stealing gravy? Granola? As bad an influence as Amethyst could be, she thought she had taught him there were lines he ought not to cross.

To her relief, Steven's expression became one of disappointment. "Sorry, guys. I have to go to work. But not as a Crystal Gem! A regular job, where I pretend to be a robot from the future for money from the present because of something that happened in the recent past."

The drone was silent for a moment, and then began producing Peri-sounds again. "...I think we might have misheard part of that! But the offer's still 'on the table', if you have some time later!"

"Yeah, sorry guys." Steven shrugged, even thought it was obviously an audio-only communication.

"We'll talk later!" The drone went silent again.

"Steven?" Pearl asked carefully, putting a dish on the drying rack. "You know better than to steal food, right?"

"Yeah?" Steven tilted his head a little, perplexed by the question.

"Okay, just checking, just checking. Do you know when you'll be home, from your _job_?"

"I should be back by dinner? Can you take my messages, if Lapis and Peridot call back?" He thumbed at the drone, now reclining on the sofa like a cat.

"Of course! You just go and have fun with your job," Pearl said.

Steven smiled and nodded. His preparations complete, he hustled out of the beach house with the oven mitts, leaving Pearl alone in a house with almost no chores left to do.

To pass the time she began to examine Peridot's drone. (Just she'd guessed earlier, it was a newer model. This one had external hardpoints and a more advanced compliment of audio equipment.)

The morning passed into lunchtime, by which time Pearl had already re-done all of the cleaning chores and prepared a bag lunch for Steven. The drone had reactivated twice, both times just to extend another invitation towards Steven, and by all appearances it was going to be a peaceful day.

...Then the drone activated a third time.

"Steven? Steven, are you there? We, _uhhhhhh_, _needyourhelp_." Peridot was more flustered than earlier, her usual screeching cut down to a low murmur like she was hiding from something. "I can't get into the details right now but something went _really wrong_ and we need backup! Can you come quick? We're at coordi-"

"-_look out_!" Lapis shouted, apparently further away.

There was a loud rustling that sounded like Peridot had just dodged something dangerous. "-oh stars that was close. Coordinates follow! We're at the Kans-" With a burst of static the drone suddenly went silent, its connection severed.

As Pearl looked on, it was clear that the drone itself was still active and had received the coordinates, jumping up and motioning for her to follow.

She sighed. Those two freelancers had somehow found a way to get in trouble when they were supposed to be keeping a low profile. And since it was the Crystal Gems' day off, Garnet and Amethyst had already gone out to do their own thing (a rhythm game tournament and a magazine shoot, respectively) - so that left… just her.

So, she dashed off a quick note in case Steven came home early and then carried the drone to the warp pad. The round probeoid-type robot interfaced with the warp pad, the warning tone played, and they burst out into color and sound...

* * *

**Author's note: Slow start, I know, but I promise it gets more exciting soon!**


	3. 02 - Intruder

Despite its reputation as a region historically safe from Gem-related events, the Midwest had in fact been the site of a _number_ of Gem-related events. In contrast with its safety, it had a higher-than-average concentration of cryptids and myths passed down through folklore - all of them misidentified Gem Monsters, naturally. This was due to the the region's status as a colony ship _parking lot_ of sorts during the occupation, the circumstances surrounding the hasty evacuation of Earth at the end of the Gem War, and what happened immediately afterwards…

The Crystal Gems had been instrumental in securing the region for Human repopulation. They defeated some monsters - generally the most aggressive ones - and sealed others in their ships, then piloted them deep under to prevent future exploitation and accidents. Pearl herself had personally decommissioned most of them on her own, in fact, and occasionally checked up on the region to make sure they _stayed _underground.

That had worked so far. And then the blue and green brats - the 'peacock pair' - figured out a new way to annoy her. Worse, they managed to do it _directly underneath the heavily populated Kansas City_, by finding a ship and then digging a tunnel down to it.

Pearl scraped the rock-and-earth wall of the tunnel the drone had led her through. It was just tall enough for someone her height, and crumbled in a way that confirmed what she'd expected: Peridot had likely gotten Lapis to use her water powers to drill out the tunnel (after somehow working out where an unexplored ship was). "You both know better than this," she said to herself.

She caught up with the drone waiting for her at the solid end of the tunnel, emitting enough light to serve as a beacon even in the all-swallowing darkness. There was an access hatch there, clearly that of an Era 1 Gem ship, cleaned off and recently used. If the drone had fingers it would have pointed at the hatch, desperately trying to be useful.

"What's wrong with this picture?" Pearl asked herself. The situation made sense on paper - the brats had gone exploring and gotten stuck - but there was something _off_ about it all. It didn't feel like the sort of place either Peridot or Lapis, homebodies extraordinaire, would go out of their way to enter on their own. In the back of her mind there was a little voice telling her that it might be a trap, a subconscious reaction to some minor detail...

Ah. That's what it was, Pearl realized. It all felt like a thing Peridot might have done back when they were enemies. Two Gems, aligned with Homeworld until recently, were trying to get Steven to enter a wreck on their terms.

She shook off the thought and sighed. If her mind consisted of a parliament of Pearls, each representing a single aspect of her being, then it was time for Logical Pearl to tell Paranoid Pearl to take her seat. Even if It really was only a little while ago that they'd both agreed to live peacefully on Earth, they'd sworn to abide by its rules for Steven's sake. They'd earned his trust and, at the very least, weren't the types to betray a friend.

The access record on the screenpad next to the door indicated that the arrogant cactus and the indifferent water bottle were the only recent guests to the ship. And they'd only ever entered _once_, earlier that day. Steven's friends really were inside the ship, then, and they really had requested assistance.

Not from her specifically, but she was **Pearl of the Rebellion**! **Vanguard of the Crystal Gems**! **The _Terrifying_ Renegade**! And the **Eleventh Sanada Brave**!

Pearl tapped a couple of buttons and opened the hatch. It was dark inside, as dark as the tunnel would have been without the drone illuminating it. "How about you?" she asked. "Are you coming in?"

The drone shook its front end left and right.

"All right. Leave and get help from the Crystal Gems, if things look dangerous. Wish me luck." She took one last breath of safe, tunnel-flavored air, and then took a confident step into the ship.

The hatch closed behind her, leaving the drone waiting alone.

* * *

The air was quiet and dry, and unlike Human ruins lacked even dust in which footprints could remain. A normal Gem colony ship of some kind, really. She'd activated her gemlight as soon as the hatch had closed, but all she could see were the walls and floor.

That was a problem. It meant that the spatial compression system was still active, making it considerably bigger on the inside than out, when it was supposed to be fully deactivated. Worse, there was no way to reboot and initiate the ship's generator in a short amount of time, and so it had to have been active for some time prior to Peridot and Lapis's arrival.

As she made her way deeper into the ship it became increasingly obvious what had happened. Most Gem ships had some sort of internal defense system, to hold off intruders until the crew could capture them. Peridot had once activated and suborned such a system against the Crystal Gems; there was no reason she couldn't do it again.

But they were inside a training ship. The high, decorated ceilings and sturdy halls, all of them built with neutral brown stone-like materials, were unmistakable. Training ships didn't have or need internal defenses, because they had training drones whose combat capabilities could be scaled up to severely high levels, indistinguishable from actual battle.

Judging by the broken training drones Pearl kept finding as she explored, Peridot or Lapis had managed to initiate a training scenario...

Suddenly Pearl heard a distant explosion, followed by a couple of smaller BOOMs that shuddered through the floor, all from an indistinct direction. "Uugh," she groaned as she produced two of her Bayonet Spiral spears, then prodded them into separate points on the wall and floor.

She didn't have to wait long. After a moment there was a third smaller BOOM, the direction of which she was able to triangulate with her spears. And with a quick, incidental analysis of the shockwave, she confirmed that it hadn't been caused by terrestrial explosive materials. "There they are." She retracted her spears and began running towards their source, unsure of what she was going to find.

...But ready to fight it if necessary.

* * *

**Author's note: Things are going to speed up from here! There are going to be EXPLOSIONS and DRAMA.**

**The 'Eleventh Sanada Brave' and 'parliament of Pearls' ideas are things I came up with for other fics. Maybe I'll even finish them someday.**

**"Bayonet Spiral" is, of course, fanon. I made up some names for their weapons and a couple of attacks back in one of my older fics, to spice up a contest entry, and this is one of them. (I use Amethyst giving things anime-names as a running joke.)******  
****


	4. 03 - The Aegis of the Heavens

As Pearl neared one of the main training halls at a dead run, the _BOOM_s became louder and more frequent. Then, she heard a voice cut through the air - loud, but not at a yell or a shout.

"**...Upon the Earth!**"

_BOOM_

It was a voice Pearl didn't recognize at all, husky and sultry and clear at once - a bell made of indestructible glass.

"**-Beneath the Sea!**"

_B-BOOM_

Two explosions, one after the other, all loud enough to hear from where she was. Something dangerous was happening in that hall, something it wouldn't benefit Pearl to run blindly into. She slowed down and crept up to the entrance.

"**-and through the Skies!**"

_B-B-B-B-BOOM_

Pearl peeked into the hall. As she'd guessed, there was a Gem there, casually fighting their way through mid-level drones, whipping up enough dust in the process to make it hard to see what was going on. She could make out the silhouette, but between that and the voice thought she'd never heard of nor met one like that before.

"**-No matter where, I arrive to vanquish threats to this world!**"

_BOOOOOOOM_

The explosions were continuous now, but Pearl couldn't see how the strangely theatrical mystery Gem was causing them, and it didn't sound like a hand-to-hand fight. Nor could she see why the lighting in the hall seemed to pulse in intensity. Needing a closer look, the danger be damned, she withdrew a spear and snuck into the hall.

"**Scoundrels! See me well, hear me well! The Aegis of the Heavens, Sapphirine stands before you!**"

The battle was over, the dust began to clear, and bit by bit, Sapphirine became visible. She had a study humanoid form, standing an inch or two taller than Garnet, with a red chestplate over a black-and-silver body and enormous, opaque green eyes. In keeping with her being the kind of Gem who had a large 'S' decorating her chest, she was striking a pose - one finger raised above her head, the other fist at her side - for its own sake and not for anyone else. A bolt of electricity, now clearly both her form of attack and the source of the uneven lighting, struck her raised finger.

"...huh," Pearl said, unable to say much else.

"**Steven. We're all glad you-**" Sapphirine began, turning towards Pearl. "Wh- _PEARL?!_" And just like that, she began to defuse.

It hadn't been obvious before, but those enormous green eyes were actually large, masking glasses; they disappeared first, revealing two pairs of oddly familiar eyes and a _very_ familiar green gem in her forehead. As her chestplate disappeared and her form turned into light, another gem, tear-shaped and blue, was visible between her shoulder blades. Then, from the bright, vaguely humanoid mass of white, those two gems split away with some violence, her reagents crashing into the dusty floor before they could take form again.

In a moment, Lapis Lazuli and Peridot were fully reformed where they'd landed, surrounded by triumphant piles of wrecked training drones.

"Why are _you_ here?! Where's Steven?" Lapis demanded, having recovered first.

"He still had that prior engagem-" Pearl began. Something seemed off, and so she kept her tone diplomatic.

Something about the situation had enraged Lapis, more so than Pearl had ever seen her before (admittedly, not very many times). "_So what!_ Why are you even here at all?"

Lapis looked more angry than violent - which was a good thing, under the circumstances, because it meant she could still be reasoned with. Pearl took a breath and let it out slowly, calmly, to try and set a tempo for the discussion, while she dissipated her spear. "You two sent a distress call to the beach house, while Steven was out. I'm here because I answered it." She looked around at the wreckage decorating the hall. "Though it... doesn't look like you needed it?"

"..._ooof_," Peridot groaned, face-up on the ground. "I feel like a _moose_ threw me out of its territory."

"Are you okay?" Lapis asked, her voice suddenly less fiery. She ran over to Peridot and slid onto her knees, gently cradled her head slightly upright.

"Yeah, yeah, just, ah, give me a minute. ..._Wow_, that was a rush."

It wasn't the first time Pearl had seen a fusion end poorly, but if they were both conscious and talking it meant that they were going to be okay. "Well, I'm relieved that you're both safe, and congratulations on a successful fusion. ...But please explain what's going on here." It was getting more difficult to not speak through gritted teeth. "Did you even need help?"

"Shut your squawking trap!" Lapis growled. "We don-_mmmph?_"

When it was clear that she'd gotten the hint, Peridot moved her hand from Lapis's mouth. "Close your eyes, imagine you're in the barn, count to one hundred," she said, and waited until Lapis had started counting (quickly, and through clenched teeth) to continue. "Pearl, I'm sorry about all of this. We, ah, needed help, and then the fusion worked."

"Oh! Well, it's good that it worked out. But then why-"

Lapis had gotten to about thirty, when she appeared to have decided it was enough. "Nope! NopeNopeNope! I'm gonna go break stuff until I feel better! _You_ explain it!" She let go of Peridot's head and produced her wings of water.

Pearl watched as she flew out of the hall, then went to Peridot's side and squatted down close to her. "So what's going on here?"

In response, Peridot raised a finger. "Give me - _whooph_ \- a moment."

After a minute Peridot pushed herself upright, and then into a sitting position. "So, as you may have guessed, Lapis is a little _Lazuli'd off_ that you're here."

"...I noticed. Why?" Pearl offered a hand, and then pulled Peridot up onto her feet, where she wobbled a bit.

"That's kind of a, ah, _story_," Peridot said, blushing with embarrassment.

* * *

**Author's note: Lapis appears to read manga, so for this I've extrapolated that and figure she'd eventually discover Shotaro Ishinomori - which would then have an effect on Sapphirine's decisions about his appearance.**

**(This is not the first time they've fused or fought together, but this is the first time they've fused in battle, and this is Sapphirine's first battle.)**

**"Lazuli'd-off" is my favorite phrase and curse word dodge in this whole fic.**

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


	5. 04 - Pearly-Plan A

Pearl took a deep breath of stale, dust-clogged air, as she tried to process what she'd just been told. And then she let it out in a slow sigh, to not feel _too _annoyed at the childishness of it all. "So. You wanted to get Lapis Lazuli out of the barn for a little bit."

"Correct," Peridot replied cheerfully, not quite reading the mood.

They were just out of the training hall, walking around, looking for an access touchpad. The first few touchpads had become inactive in the centuries since the Gem War, and so they had to keep looking. "You really did intend to scrounge for materials, and it was convenient to have her along. But you needed a better reason than that to convince her."

"That's right."

"And then you came up with the idea of inviting Steven, to show off how much you two had improved."

"And, and! _Sapphirine_!"

"...right. You didn't know this was a training ship, but you activated what you _thought_ were the defenses. Drat." Another touchpad, and another failure. "Let's keep going. ...Then you figured out it was a training ship, and your planned fake distress call - don't ever think of doing that again, by the way - turned into a real one."

"Sorry about that. I promise I won't do it again."

"Make sure Lapis doesn't either. ...and then, you fused into Sapphirine, both because you were in trouble and because you wanted to show her off."

"-_Him_," Peridot clarified quickly.

"Oh?" Pearl blinked a couple times, and then got it. "Ohh! Okay."

"We wanted to introduce _him_ to Steven, and then, ah, you guys too. At a later time. Can you pretend to still be surprised later?"

"...fine." It had taken years of practice, but Pearl had mastered the ancient Human art of nodding and rolling her eyes at the same time - and demonstrated it here, for the benefit of the little green Gem. "So, then he took over and eliminated the training drones early."

"Too early. And - _ooo!_" Peridot found a touchpad at her height on a nearby wall and ran to it. "He got a little excited and made it so we couldn't show him off." She kicked the wall underneath it in frustration. "_Slaggin' ancient junk!_ The one _I_ tried to _trap_ you in worked...!"

Pearl looked over her shoulder; the touchpad was active but the face had a jagged crack running across it, inconveniently right where they didn't need it. "Come on, we'll find another one. ...And then I arrived instead of Steven, and I wasn't who Lapis wanted to see."

"_Yup!_ And here we are, all caught up!" Peridot announced. She seemed to be proud of having learned some Human slang.

The next touchpad was, amazingly, still active _and_ undamaged. "Here we go." Pearl began manipulating it, looking for any information on the ship or Lapis's position. "Hm! This ship was one of the earliest to land on Earth."

"That makes it a priceless Era One artifact." Peridot looked around with new appreciation for her surroundings. "I feel bad about all those broken drones now. We should move the ship to a museum - or even _better_, it could be a museum on its own. The - where are we again? Can-saws City? The Can-saws City Gem Museum."

"Mm. We'll put it in Rockhill; no one will notice- oh?" The touchpad suddenly flashed red and ceased to respond. "Oh, no no _no_!"

"What's going on?"

Pearl poked and prodded at it for a few more seconds, before smashing her fist down on it and giving up in frustration. "That _blue_\- We're locked out! Lapis did something."

"Lapis? Are you s-"

"**ATTENTION ALL PARTICIPANTS. ATTENTION ALL PARTICIPANTS**," a mechanical voice blared throughout the hallway.

"Okay, yeah, that was probably her," Peridot mumbled.

"**TRIAL MODE EIGHT WILL COMMENCE SHORTLY. PREPARE YOURSELVES.**"

"Rrrgh!" Pearl punched the wall under the touchpad with unexpected force, bending in the access panel and then tearing it out from the wall. She reached in and began fiddling with the relay systems inside. "Mode eight is the second-hardest mode, _and_ all the access locks are engaged!"

"What does that mean?"

"We're trapped _inside_ until we beat everything it throws at us, or until we stop mov- _ow!_" There was a visible electrical arc from inside the wall.

"...oh. No chance of, ah, hotwiring the control network?"

Pearl pulled her hands out, now with small scorch marks where she'd been shocked. "None! ...what did that blue troublemaker _do?_" she added to herself.

"Not much? This is Era One tech," Peridot said, stomping the floor to emphasize the point. "We had to dig and drill just to get down here, and it's still _mostly_ working like the day it was buried."

"Drill? Oh-for-the-" Pearl slapped her hand into her forehead and slid it down, her expression stretching cartoonishly. "...She's using her water powers."

"_Aaaaand_ she shorted something out. That's definitely like her." Peridot sighed. "So that means Plan A's not gonna work. Is there a Pearly-Plan B?"

"No. The only thing we can do now is shut down the generator."

"That doesn't sound _so_ bad?"

Pearl suddenly swiveled towards Peridot, shadows cast ominously across her face. "Remember the ship you three came to Earth in?" She wiggled an outstretched hand overhead.

"Y-yes?"

"_Garnet_ threw _Jasper_ right _into_ that ship's generator, and all it did was _shock Jasper_ and cause a power surge! And yes! That led to its destruction! But that was because it was an Era Two model!" She began waving her arms around wildly, as though pointing in every direction at once. "This is an _Era! One! Training ship!_ It was built to survive accidents involving supergiants. Yellow Diamond _herself_ could punch the generator casing for an hour, and all that'd happen is sore knuckles and an _awful_ lot of whining!"

"_Oh stars_ you're right." Then, something occurred to her. "Wait - you've met Yellow Diamond?"

"Of course I'm- _ehhhhh, nonono,_ I never said that, I've never met her, I've never even seen her in person," she explained quickly, before clearing her throat. "... Ahem. We need to find Lapis, and then a way out of this deathtrap. Come on."

* * *

**Author's note: Next up is a chapter from Lapis's perspective.**

**I hope it's been interesting so far. Like, Comment, and Subs- _I mean_, leave a review or something, let me know what you think! I've got the story mostly mapped out, but I'm listening too.**


	6. 05 - One Step At A Time

Lapis had been alone for a while, when the overhead warning went off.

"I don't need them, I don't need anyone," Lapis mumbled to herself, as she shoved an enormous drill made of water through a group of drones. They were bigger than the ones from earlier, bulkier and maybe a little stronger.

They reminded her, unpleasantly, of Jasper.

And that was just like _Pearl_, she thought: crank up the difficulty level and then sic the one Gem she hated more on her! She could feel her nerves tensing up with disgust and anger, more and more with each _Jas_\- with each _drone _she crushed. As if to burn off that mass of feelings inside her, her water drill was changing. It had ceased to be a drill shape, and was becoming a ring of water swirling a short distance around her.

It functioned the same, spinning so fast that it cut through whatever it touched. Only now, instead of forcing apart drones from the inside out, it simply cut through them like a saw. It was even leaving marks in the walls, when she got too close to them.

It was becoming an automatic defense, protecting her without her input, instead of a targeted, conscious attack.

The symbolism wasn't lost on her. It couldn't be, anymore.

She didn't feel like it was in her control.

None of it did.

"_RrrRRGGGHHHH!_" For a split-second, the water expanded outwards into jagged edges, their range extended to cause harm to a considerably wider area than before.

"Why! Why are they all like this! _All of them!_" The water stopped swirling around as her influence over it waned, and retained its ragged shape as it splashed onto the floor. "Every Gem I've met since... _since setting foot on Earth!_ They've only _ever_ made things _worse_ for me! _Every time_ I meet a Gem, something-"

_**/Steven. Peridot./**_

She stopped. The maelstrom was still there in her, but now so was that voice in her head.

_**/You've met good Gems. And Humans./**_

The Humans called it a conscience. That one graphic novel she'd read called it a 'conscience _circuit_'. Ever since Steven had healed her, it had been in the back of her mind.

It had told her to forgive the planet, and she had. She'd concluded that it was the right thing to do, and was Steven's home besides.

It had told her to forgive Peridot, and she had. Peridot had demonstrated contriteness - in her own way - and eventually backed it up with compensating actions, which made it easy to accept.

But it had stayed silent on the matter of the Crystal Gems. And why not? They'd _never_ apologized for how they treated her! The damage she might have done to the oceans that one time - she was careful _not _to actually break the planet. The result was _trivial_ compared to how poorly they'd treated her!

_Especially_ Pearl! All Homeworld did was trap her in a mirror, interrogate her, _forget about her_... but _Pearl_? _Pearl_! _PEARL!_ That was her _prison_ for thousands of years. Lifetimes, _generations_ to the Humans!

If not for _Pearl_! ...maybe she wouldn't have to constantly feel a tug-of-war in her mind, a tide between crushing loneliness and draining anger. She'd tried, too! With all her mental fortitude, she had tried to stabilize herself - and the result?

Failure. A lonely sense that her existence _itself_ was the problem. The angry realization that she was going to be like this _forever_. It never ended. The moon hung in her sky and dragged her mood back and forth whether she wanted it to or not.

In a moment of deep hatred, she closed her eyes. She could hear the drones pushing past their comrades' wreckage, and stepping over still puddles of water. She could hear them growing closer to her, ready to vaporize her. And, she knew, she _could_ just let them.

She had recently begun to ask herself why she continued to stay on Earth - the Crystal Gems' home territory. For Steven and Peridot? For their sake?

"...why am I here?"

_**/To live./**_

She opened her eyes, and the puddles on the floor suddenly burst up, tearing through the unfortunate drones that happened to be above them. The water swirled around her again, forming a protective ring closer to her physical form this time, slicing through anything unfortunate enough to be near her.

There were two problems working against her, and now she had a simple answer. A simple denial to the force inside her trying to work against her, and a physically _violent_ one to the drones around her.

She took a deep breath. One step at a time, she reminded herself. She had to find Peridot and get her back to Beach City, so they could introduce Sapphirine to Steven. She had to keep going, at least until then.

"One step at a time."

Her mind was made up, and with that came clarity of thought.

For one thing, it wasn't her first time on a training ship. In her time, all colony engineering specialists like her had been required to train in destination-planet conditions before they could begin work, to reduce their reliance on security escorts. (Protocol had apparently changed since then; _now _she might be required to work under a full garrison.)

She'd been on a ship very much like this one - and possibly even the exact same one. She knew where the controls were and how the panels worked, the relative strengths of the drones and the materials they were made from. And if the controls had locked her out? All she had to do was find the main generator and break it. Backup power would keep critical functions operating, but the drones would all be forced to shut down.

The only problem, really, was that she couldn't just fly straight there. She only had enough water on her to do one thing at a time with it, and right now it was all spinning around her.

So she had to walk.

"...one step at a time. _Ugh_." Lapis groaned in annoyance and began heading in the right direction, taking care not to step directly on the mangled drone remains that were piling up around her.

* * *

**Author's note: My reasoning is that, if she can use water to create lift through acceleration, then there's really nothing stopping her from creating a water jet cutter.**

**I like the idea that Steven (accidentally) altered Lapis's mind when he repaired her gem. As such, I'm writing her as capable of being completely independent, but not actually prepared for that.**


	7. 06 - Swaddled

After some negotiation, Peridot and Pearl worked out that their primary goal was to shut down the training ship's main generator somehow. To do so they would have to (quickly!) make their way to the generator itself, which was somewhere deep inside an endless maze of hallways and protected by combat simulation drones. Lapis had to be secondary to this, since she could both handle herself and was likely so far away that finding her would take too much energy.

This Peri-Pearly-Plan then collided with said combat simulation drones.

"...and, by _combining_ Lapis's water powers with _my_ metal powers, Sapphirine is able to produce massive quantities of electricity through a series of high-pressure micro reaction turbines," Peridot said, trying to stay calm.

"So that means he's a walking hydroelectric power plant? Interestin-_oop_, mind the debris." Pearl sliced through a drone with one spear and sliced through it again perpendicularly with her other. The drone seemed to hang in the air for a moment, its four pieces separated by an expanding cross shape, before it exploded.

Four more drones formed ranks where its compatriot had been, further blocking the way forward. Their arms, formerly humanoid, began spinning so quickly it was impossible to tell if they'd changed shape or not in the deadly blur.

"I, _aaah_, don't think this is working," Peridot said, watching the action with a hand mirror. Pearl had swaddled her onto her own back with the ribbon-like sash she always wore.

(Technically, under the latest Homeworld guidelines, this meant Pearl's sash would be classified as an _external weapon_. The thought of anyone, Gem or Human, fighting with a mere sash as their weapon amused Peridot. And yet when she said as much, Pearl had reacted - _laughed_, in fact - as though she knew someone with that sort of undefeatable mastery.)

"I admit, it's certainly not a perfect solution." Even facing four enormous Jasper-sized drones, Pearl was able to hold them off with parries alone. And if her calm, ordinary tone was any indication, for her this was _easy_. "I might have some trouble down the line, if they keep improving. Do you have any suggestions?"

With only a hand mirror at her disposal, Peridot couldn't easily see what Pearl was fighting - but she _could_ see the path of scrap behind them. An alarming number of drones had attacked them in the last few minutes, clearly, but to Pearl they were what the Humans called a 'speed bump'. She recalled their robot competition from a while back; now she was certain she'd only won because Pearl had taken a handicap by _not _fighting on foot.

But Peridot had improved herself since then, as an engineer _and_ as a fighter _and_ as a Gem! And, even if she _definitely_ couldn't see herself ever beating Pearl in a straight duel, she could still fight on her own terms. She knew she could. All she needed was advantageous conditions. "...Pearl? How many spears can you sustain at once?"

"Sixty-five thousand five hundred thirty-six total. Two hundred fifty-six of those can function as ranged energy weapons; the rest have to be inert spears. I can sustain them to an effective range of two hundred meters. Why?"

The already quite substantial gap between them felt like it suddenly grew even wider, to Peridot. "Ahh, well! I've been working on something that might help."

"Really? That's wonderful. Good for you." Pearl swiped wide horizontally with both spears, and the four drones's arms all clattered to the floor. "But this really isn't the time for a demonstration."

"No, I've practiced it, and it's ready for live combat! Could you produce two spears for me, please?"

"Hmm." If her hands had been free, Pearl probably would have touched her chin thoughtfully to think about it. As it was, she merely pinned the four (literally) unarmed drones to the walls, skewering two on each spear like fish. "Okay! Looks like we have a moment, so? Let's see it."

Peridot began trying to undo the sash, as Pearl flourished gracefully into a neutral position. "I… here… wait, gimme a second here…"

"Hm. I'll need to work on that technique." Pearl undid the sash, allowing Peridot to fall down onto her butt with little dignity. Then she produced two more spears and stuck them into the floor. "Be quick though. I don't think the drones will leave us alone for too long."

Peridot hopped up and declared "Then they'll have to wait, so you can watch and _be amazed_ at my magnificence!" From her gem, she produced a half-dozen cans and held them in the air with her metal powers. With a flick of her wrist they split off and flew towards the spears, winding themselves onto the handles. "And here's the kicker!" With a flourish, the spears began to float; with another gesture, they spun in place, then stopped and rotated defensively around the two Gems, pointed outwards at anything daring to threaten them.

"Oh my! That's actually really impressive, Peridot - congratulations! Will it work with anything?"

The spears stopped rotating and floated over to Peridot. "There's a weight limit - force and mass in a gravity well and all - but the shape doesn't seem to matter. It has an effective range of fifty meters? And I can't seem to access your spear's blaster functions…?"

"No, I doubt you could. But Steven and Amethyst told me about what happened to Jasper..."

"Yeah!" Peridot puffed up in pride. "_I_ happened to Jasper! And I can do that reliably now! Ooo, ooo - watch this!" She made a motion with her hands, whereupon one floating spear touched the floor point-first and scratched something into it. When it was done, cursive English characters announced that Peridot had in fact been in that location at that specific time.

Pearl leaned over for a better look. "That's very beautiful penmanship. You've really come a long way."

"Well..." She turned away, trying to hide her blushing. "I had lots of time to practice."

(In truth she'd been working almost non-stop on improving her metal powers in her free time. There had been too many times where she had to hold back and not participate in some battle or conflict for her new home planet - and enough was enough.)

A jostling noise from somewhere ahead of them drew them out of the moment.

"A single drone - probably a scout for a larger group." Pearl produced two more spears, but held them low without expectation of immediate action. "Well, it's as good an opportunity as any. Why don't you take this one, Peridot?"

"Really?" Peridot beamed with _maximum_ pride, then tamped it down with a 'game face' grin. With a flick of her finger her Peri-spears pointed forward, ready for battle. "Then watch as I show you how it's _done_!"

* * *

**Author's note: And now, the logical next step of a Peri-Plan: a Peri-Pearly-Plan. **

**I figure that Peridot doesn't have anywhere near Pearl's carrying capacity, so she'd typically use shurikens as weapons.  
**

**Pearl is, at the time this fic takes place - and during the majority of the show - the single most experienced fighter on Earth, followed closely by Garnet. So that's how I treat her here.**


	8. 07 - Nonetheless Functional

The drone was big. Really big, compared to her. Bigger than Jasper, and maybe what would happen if two of her fused together.

Lapis punched at it once, and her water fist - far larger than herself - traced the motion.

_THH-rrkk_

The drone's head went flying - and taking advantage of the opening that created, she chopped downwards with her other hand, with the other water hand cutting through the drone vertically.

_SHHnn_

The two halves of the drone stood for a moment, sparks glittering a couple of times in the open space between them, and then gravity pulled them down to the floor. A theatrical explosion might have been appropriate, but by now Lapis would have been surprised to see one.

"Seven," she said quietly. That was the seventh Jasper-Fusion drone she'd destroyed, following…

She'd lost count of how many drones she'd destroyed since they'd started attacking her. Enough to brag about to Steven, when she next saw him.

But not enough to improve her mood.

It didn't have to be combat necessarily, but there were few other opportunities for her to really let loose, to burn off some stress. But if all she wanted was satisfaction and stability to pass the time with, that was what her life would be: no joy, no love, no rest, no peace, nothing but a stress-burn followed by a search for more. It would just be an existence of combat followed by combat followed by combat.

No, that was just no way to live. All the other Gems and Humans on Earth seemed to have a better handle on their health - and besides, her conscience would probably never shut up over it.

Instead, she'd gotten some advice from an unexpected source. Maybe it was because they didn't wear the Crystal Gem Star, or maybe because their rapport reminded her of Steven, but for some reason she didn't automatically distrust Ruby and Sapphire. (Though it made for an awkward situation, where she had to ask Steven or Peridot to ask Garnet to ask Ruby and Sapphire if they could come work with her.) The techniques Ruby and Sapphire had taught her were intended to help her deal with her stress - and they _did_ work, to a point. But the martial way they'd drilled them into her were also the starting point for her own fighting style.

_**/That might be why./**_

She didn't need her conscience spelling it out for her. But it was right - this was probably why she felt so... empty. She'd psyched herself up for a day of exploring and fighting alongside one friend, followed by showing off what she could do to another. And that was the _other_ distraction that really allowed her to escape her usual mood: hanging out with friends. One or the other, or possibly both at once.

She mentally kicked herself. The only reason she was alone at the moment, separated from them, was out of pique. Her own fault, partially - and the rest of it?

"_...Pearl!_"

_Always_ Pearl! Lapis could die like a Human and go to some Human afterlife, and she knew the guardian at those gates (good or bad) would take Pearl's form just to test her, possibly repeatedly.

She could go on one of those spirit quests and all she'd meet would be some slippery _amphibian_ (ugh!) with Pearl's voice and characteristics, guiding her to a path she'd refuse out of hand.

She could become a hermit, spending her days and nights meditating in search of 'Enlightenment' like Ruby had taught her, perhaps. But she was more likely to build up tremendous Aura Power (with which her life force would burn golden, supposedly) than find a greater truth - because that _memory_ of Pearl would block her!

Her _prison! Dungeon! Stockade!_ The knowledge that she could have been another Gem altogether if not for _Pearl_ was what tortured her most, day and night. _Jasper_ she could at least fight against without losing who she was; but _Pearl!_ That Gem, that _place_, had overridden the core at the center of her sense of self. Worst of all, Lapis knew just how much it had…

...broken her.

_**/That's not true. You became friends with Steven and Peridot, because it isn't./**_

Her conscience - no, that _conscience circuit_ again. It wasn't wrong, but it wasn't right either.

_**/Look at your hands./**_

She did. Blue and thin, frail by Gem standards like the rest of her, but nonetheless functional.

_**/Look at your feet./**_

Same. There was a point to this; it never lied to her.

_**/Is your mind functional?/**_

Clearly.

_**/Then you have what you need./**_

She sighed. She knew what it meant - if she _was _still broken in some sense, she had what she needed to fix herself. "My life is my own. I am a free Gem," she quoted.

"And... I can _ignore_ you if I want." Another Jasper-Fusion drone had approached while she had been thinking. "I can fight _you_ if I want."

With some effort, the drone's 'face' looked like Pearl's. _All _of their faces looked like Pearl's.

So many Pearls.

Lapis's mood was tipping towards anger again. It was a low burn, low enough in intensity that it _felt_ like calm.

_**/It's a short-term fix./**_

"...Shut up."

The drones were still falling to single punches, if she aimed her enormous watery fists correctly. They were the world, for now. Nothing else mattered.

_So many Pearls..._

* * *

**Author's note: Presumably Ruby or Sapphire told Lapis about that one time Steven came up with a story for Garnet's day out.**

**As amusing as it is for Lapis to know _The Prisoner_ well enough to quote it, this is the only time I'll have that happen. Might make an interesting crossover, but I have an easier time seeing Amethyst as No. 2 than Pearl somehow. I suppose Rover could fly and keep her earthbound that way - sort of the reverse of her usual 'trap them in water bubbles' trick.**

**The bit about life force burning golden is a Maskman reference, not Dunbine. Couldn't resist.**

**And as always, I welcome your thoughts and follows and faves!**


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